When Australian musician Nick Cave opened up about the death of his two sons in an emotional interview, he candidly revealed details on his journey through grief after losing his two sons; Arthur in 2015 aged 15, then Jethro in 2022 aged 31.
Speaking with Australian Story, the singer revealed that before Arthur’s tragic death he had lived life “in awe of [his] own genius. After the tragedy, he said his previous way of thinking “collapsed completely.”
“I just saw the folly of that … disgraceful sort of self-indulgence,” Cave said. “I’m a father and I’m a husband and a grandfather and a kind of person of the world. These things are much more important to me than the concept of being an artist.”
“That idea, that art sort of trounces everything, it just doesn’t apply to me anymore,” he added, explaining that the death of his sons had changed his worldview.
Jethro Cave
In 1991, Nick’s oldest son Jethro was born in Australia, where he was raised by his mother and model Beau Lazenby.
At the time, Nick was living with his first wife Viviane Carneiro in Brazil, where he welcomed his second son Luke just 10 days later.
“It was difficult at the time, but it turned out great in the end,” Nick told The Guardian of welcoming two sons so closely together.
To his “eternal regret,” Nick wasn’t a part of Jethro’s life for his early years, but later insisted he had “a great relationship with him” during the 2008 interview.
In the early hours of May 9, 2022, Nick Cave announced that his oldest son Jethro died aged just 31.
The Australian singer-songwriter released a brief statement, writing: “With much sadness, I can confirm that my son, Jethro, has passed away. We would be grateful for family privacy at this time.”
Before his sudden passing, Jethro lived in the UK, where, according to The Guardian, he became a model and also started his own music projects.
Luke Cave
Despite commonly being mistaken for twins, Luke and Jethro were born to two different women and in two different countries.
While he was born in Brazil, Luke later moved to the UK with his father, where he dabbled in the alternative scene with his band Cavey as the lead guitarist and vocalist.
Though the 33-year-old made brief public appearances and even became a part of his father’s musical ventures, Luke has been leading a private life for some time.
Arthur Cave
Nick and his current wife Susie Cave welcomed twin sons Arthur and Earl in 2000.
Aged just 15, Arthur died in 2015 following a tragic fall from a 60 ft cliff near his home in Brighton, United Kingdom.
At the time, the family released a statement that read: “Our son Arthur died on Tuesday evening. He was our beautiful, happy loving boy.”
Following Arthur’s tragic death, Nick and his family moved from Brighton to the US, relocating to Los Angeles after explaining that “Brighton had just become too sad”.
Although, in his edition of the Red Hand Files in November 2021, Nick explained that the move didn’t erase the sadness of the loss.
“We did, however, return [to Brighton] once we realised that, regardless of where we lived, we just took our sadness with us,” he penned.
“These days, though, we spend much of our time in London, in a tiny, secret, pink house, where we are mostly happy.”
Earl Cave
Currently aged 24, Earl is an actor and is best known for his roles in The End of the F***ing World, Alex Rider, and The School for Good and Evil.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald after scoring the part of Daniel in Days of the Bagnold Summer, Earl revealed a short insight into his younger years.
“My parents have always pretty much ‘got’ me,” he said in the 2021 interview. “I was never a rude or nasty child. But I think everyone had their rebellious years.
“My rebellion was to dress differently from how my parents wanted me to dress, to go out in awful skin-tight jeans sagging down around the crotch, all this awful sh*t.”
“Even if I don’t like the clothes, I’m going to wear them because they don’t want me to wear them. That sort of thing.”
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